Abstract:
In 2019, John W. de Gruchy turns 80 and it will be 40 years after his influential
The Church Struggle in South Africa was published. This contribution reflects
on the last chapter of De Gruchy’s book, titled The Kingdom of God in South
Africa. In this chapter, De Gruchy engages with well-known theologians such
as Niebuhr, Bonino, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Pannenberg and Moltmann. He enters
into conversation with liberation theologians from South America and Africa.
His interpretation of the kingdom of God within the context of South Africa,
with all its socio-political challenges, became a seminal text in the theological
critique of apartheid. De Gruchy concludes with a “theology of hope” with
reference to Bonhoeffer’s letters from prison in which he reflects on Christian
hope.
